wuffles

To be honest I think it's harder for the hoomans to adapt to having two dogs rather than the dogs themselves Some dogs do better by themselves, some do better with company and some are ok either way. I think Satch liked being an 'only child' but I wanted another dog so he had to deal with it. And he has. It is definitely an exercise in time and resource management - I still struggle with that. Ava is now 16 months old, Satch is 6, and their relationship with each other and us is still evolving. But when you're about to leave for work of a morning and hear strange sounds coming from the backyard, so peek out the blinds and see the two dogs play bowing at each other and running around like hooligans - it makes it all worthwhile Edit: Ava love love love loves Satch and at first we didn't think the feeling was at all mutual These days he definitely shows signs of enjoying her company more than just a little, but he doesn't fawn over her like she does him. In saying that, I've just managed a CCD obedience pass with Ava so I obviously don't have any problems with human-dog bonding!

You guys should see how skinny Ava is now since her "extreme water loss diet" ;) She had about 1/4 chicken and 3/4 kibble tonight so we're pretty much back to her normal diet finally. Now we just have to hope that the nasty bug stays away lilli_star, Ava still suckles in her sleep. She sticks her little tongue out and sucks. It's cute and creepy at the same time. Can't wait to start agility, yay fun doggy activities! Good to hear you might consider obedience trialling, KTB You'll have to come watch one of the upcoming trials. I think once we get our other two CCD passes we should be ready to go straight on to Novice... just a bit more work on heeling turns and the 'finish'... change of position we are fine (basically drop from a distance)... then after Novice it gets REALLY interesting

Well duh, of course they are! Sometimes we just have to accept that our dogs are smarter than us and move on :D

Yeah!! Even if you have to hear "great border collie!" a million times

Go the tailed Aussies

I know this is knee advice and not dog advice but if I were you I would push for an MRI on your knee ASAP I have fiddled around with physio in the past when it would have just been better to get an MRI straight up. I had my ACL reconstructed last May, was back walking the dogs 4 weeks later, and started playing sport again 9 months post-op. It was a LOT of hard work but I am glad I did it as quickly as possible. My OH is now going through the same process and has moved even faster than me in getting surgery booked in. ETA: I know there are other people on this forum who have had similar experiences and at least one I talked to who had a total knee replacement and a young energetic dog... so you are not alone

I don't think that anyone here can tell you what the right thing to do would be, just give suggestions on what types of things could help. I had knee surgery last year so I know that sucks. At the time my Aussie was a very energetic 6 month old! I will admit that I sacrificed my recovery a little bit for meeting her needs. I told my physio/surgeon that I needed to do some walking/training with my dogs and we worked around that. My OH also helped out by giving her short daily walks (he's not into training though). Do you have family or friends that could help you out? We did lots of training indoors including learning lots of tricks and basic behaviours (eg. stays). I'd drive to the local oval (well... once I could drive again) and practice recalls with her as well as simple attention/focus work. We also met up with friends and their dogs for play sessions. If she's not interested in food you need to find something that interests her for training. Toys, ball, tug, praise, etc. Is there the option of joining a dog training club Good luck with your decision.

Congrats smisch! You always seem to have brags in this thread! Thanks everyone for your congrats! Yes RV she is my first trialling dog (and a great one at that, I am very lucky to have her) so that makes it an unexpected but welcome win. Sorry RS, no video I think everyone was a bit too busy watching to remember to take a video And considering how nervous I was, I'm not sure I would like what I saw anyway.

And Nature's Gift is good for freezing in a Kong

Are we talking about obedience classes, timberlane? If so, are you expecting her to concentrate for the full hour? An hour is a loooooong time to dogs, no matter how old they are. My girl is a 16 month old Aussie and there is no way I expect her to focus on me for a whole one hour training block. Between exercises she's either released to sniff/pee/rest or asked to do some simple tricks. Some people in our class stay a small distance from the rest of the class so that they can play with toys/tugs in the spare time. But IMO 22 months isn't too young for her to have good focus - but in short, fun blocks rather than a whole boring hour

"On walks" and "while training" are two different things to me. You need to work out what you expect of the dog and then teach her. My dogs can basically do whatever they want on walks as long as they are not pulling and listen to me if I ask them to do something. I walk them for exercise and to get out and about, and I do separate training sessions. They're allowed to sniff and even stop for a brief time but need to move on when I tell them to. They're also not allowed to drag me to a tree or whatever they want to sniff. Other people set different criteria but you need to decide what YOU want and help the dog understand that. In training, as mentioned, sniffing can be a displacement behaviour (generally because the dog is confused about what you want it to do). You need to make yourself exciting and make training FUN. It's hard to know why it's happening without seeing what you are doing.

Thanks guys. I am a very proud mum. She won me my entry fee back plus a folding chair and I even made a $2 profit

Great stuff Wuffles! I assume this was BDOC's trial? I popped out briefly on the way home from field training, you may have seen me being dragged around by a GSP :D You not in this afternoon? Thanks FHRP, yes it was at BDOC. There were a few GSPs there but I don't think I saw you! I pulled out of the afternoon trial as I didn't want to push Ava too hard. She is exhausted, bless

Yay Jedi! We just got back from our first obedience trial ever, we scored 96 in CCD and took out 1st place! Good girl Ava! All 4 points lost were in heeling and were because of me, of course I am even more happy because she has been ill this week and only recovered in the last few days... such a great little dog.

Looks like a hotspot to me?

The dogs were like that for about a month and then it calmed down, although their poos are bigger. Interesting, as my dogs' poos are much smaller!

No advice here but Naomi... nearly everyone I know has had at least one "OMG WHAT HAVE I DONE" moment when they've got a dog In fact, I did with both my dogs. When we got Satch he dug heaps of holes which upset me (now I don't care) and when we got Ava she was a little livewire who never slept This must be one of the reasons puppies are cute. So we don't kill them

Agree with FHRP, how about just training a paw up in the stand position? Can't be too different to a shake or wave, just need to get them to hold it still. You guys have taught enough tricks to do that relatively easily

I prefer them not to retaliate strongly either. My boy who won't put up with it doesn't retaliate -- his usual reaction is to turn around and try to engage them in play, or turn around and walk away

One of mine doesn't tolerate humping and the other does. I don't mind either way, I don't know why either reaction would be a problem? If there is a particularly humpy dog around, I just leave. In my experience the dogs that get humped the most are either 'middle of the pack' dogs (not the most submissive and not the most dominant) or adolescent males.

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Tip: Don't go to the Weston Park dog park when it's rained recently, or may happen. I live and work northside but will try make it to a meet, dogs or not

I don't know if you're talking to me but I think there should be a lot of send-offs in this game

So now everyone's applauding a post that has called something a "sly dig" that, I can guarantee you, was NOT a "sly dig" but a genuine comment which accidentally offended people? What a great attitude to have.

Who's that directed at? This thread isn't (or wasn't) about your pup and your decision. It was about two severely deformed Chi pups. What you choose to do with a pup you bred is off topic IMO. Clearly you disagree. Pardon? How is a post comparing one situation to another similar situation, off topic? That's what discussions are about -- adding our own opinions and experiences to the mix. However, people being "offended" and making multiple posts about that one post and even asking her to retract an innocent statement that they took the wrong way, is taking a thread off topic. IMO. And yes, this post is off topic